Saving the Raw Milk Cheeses of Provence - A Campaign for Real MilkA Campaign for Real Milk Saving the Raw Milk Cheeses of Provence Saving the Raw Milk Cheeses of Provence Posted on February 12, 2006 Last Modified on January 11, 2017 PDF By Madeleine Vedel For the cheese-lover, France is mecca: a site of pilgrimage, and a land of rapture. And one of the defining reasons for this fact is the large number of small-scale raw milk cheese producers that live and work in the region. Who can forget the witticism of Charles de Gaulle who quipped, “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” NOT IN THE U.S. Cheese lovers in the United States must content themselves with cheeses, both imported and domestically produced, that abide by the FDA’s cheese laws, which specify that cheese must either be made from pasteurized milk or aged at least 60 days. The industrial makers of the cow’s milk cheeses such as Brie, Camembert and St. André, have adapted to the American market by pasteurizing the milk they use for the cheeses they export.

Other cheeses, such as the wood ash-filled Morbier or the St. Nectaire, are sent to the United States after the 60 days’ aging period, making them far older than the age at which they are commonly consumed here in France. The extra aging renders these cheeses more pungent, so they differ substantially from their counterparts in France. But many cheeses from France never cross the Atlantic due to the fact that they are made from raw milk and then sold anywhere from the day of their fabrication to six weeks of age. This is the case with the majority of goat cheeses in Provence. To enjoy the fresh and delicate flavor of the Gardian from the Camargue river delta region of Provence, you must purchase it directly from the cheese-maker at a local market. This cheese is sold in its whey at one day old and eaten with a drizzle of olive oil and herbs. The Banon de Banon is a sweet curdle goat cheese from Haute Provence, known for its small round form wrapped in chestnut leaves. Protected by Appellation of Controlled Origin (AOC) laws, this cheese is ready to eat after two weeks’ aging.

Age it far beyond a month and it can become a completely different cheese, far more pungent, and much less desirable. The fresh young goat cheese sold in the United States must be made from pasteurized milk. It is packaged in vacuum seal wrap and must be kept refrigerated. By contrast, in Provence, what starts out as a similar fresh goat cheese made from raw milk, evolves at room temperature from a tart lactic acid cheese, to a mild, creamy, runny cheese to a pungent hard cheese that eventually shrinks in size due to dehydration, which is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. This process is impossible and potentially even dangerous for pasteurized goat cheese. The moist, pasteurized, dead medium of the cheese contains no enzymes and no natural lactic bacteria activity and is therefore an ideal growing ground for many harmful pathogens. For now, only those who visit France will be able to taste raw milk goat cheese in its many guises and through its many stages. And yet, this great tradition of raw milk cheeses has come under attack as France seeks to comply with the new food regulations coming from Brussels and the European Union (EU). Not all cheeses in France are made with raw milk.

There is a relatively new production method that lies between raw milk and pasteurized called thermisation, in which the milk is heated to a temperature just below that which kills the enzyme phosphatase. On a label, the cheese-maker can still call this “raw milk,” but in fact it is relatively (if not completely) dead milk that requires the addition of fermenting agents. This method is used for certain soft-centered cow’s milk cheeses, and Christian Fleury, my local cheese-maker from the village of Noves, has told me that it was in these cheeses that occurred an outbreak of Lysteria contamination in recent years. Over the last 20 years, the French cheese-makers have gone to battle to defend their right to produce raw milk cheese, facing the opposition which has spread fear of this traditional product through advertisements, televised reports and newspaper articles—often inspired by the anti-raw milk stance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In a country where the cooperation of small businesses to defend their common interests is practically unknown, the farmer/cheese-makers have managed not only to unite, but also to work together towards greater recognition of their product.

They have established a definition of their occupation, created a charter of rules and lobbied successfully for the new EU laws to take into account the realities of raw milk cheese. These cheese-makers have many foes within the EU bureaucracy—often from the pays hygienistes (overly hygiene-concerned countries) as Christian has called them—who would like to apply hygiene codes which are, in many situations, inapplicable and inappropriate to cheese. PRODUCTION STYLES Living and working in Provence for more than ten years now, firmly ensconced in my life as a culinary teacher and guide, I’ve researched the world of raw milk goat and sheep cheese production through farm visits, tastings and personal acquaintances. The traditional cheeses of this region are most often made with cooled (68F/20C) or warm (85F/30C) milk. Rennet, an enzyme found in the second stomach of a young ruminant (such as a goat, sheep or cow) is then applied in varying amounts, depending on the type of cheese desired, as the primary curdling agent.

Less rennet is added to the cooler cheeses,as these also receive an innoculation from a batch of lactic acid from cheese of the day before. The result is a “lactic curdle,” what many of us would call a typical goat cheese, with that yogurty bite of lactic acid. In the warmer style of production, larger amounts of rennet are added and the cheese “takes” or curdles in about an hour, producing a less acidic cheese (thus called a “sweet curdle”) that is pressed and aged to produce a Tome de Provence or the Banon de Banon. The Tome de Provence is the traditional cheese of this region, made by the shepherd’s wife in her kitchen. She made it with milk virtually at the temperature it has when it leaves the animal, using enough rennet (or a large enough snip of a dried second stomach) to curdle the cheese in an hour. It is the ideal cheese for a hot climate. It ages at the ambient temperature or in a cellar, wrapped in a bit of paper to prevent too quick a dehydration.

You do not often find cow’s milk cheeses in Provence and certainly no tradition of such there for, although Provence is a lovely place to visit, its climate is hot and fierce. Ground cover is rough and not always plentiful. The winds blow very hard and there is little shelter. The animals that do best here are adaptable and hardy, such as goats and sheep. Goats were, and still are, tended in the hills of the Alpilles, and the Cévennes to the west, and sheep covered the plains of the Crau between Arles and Marseille, traveling each summer to the heights of Haute Provence and the Alps beyond for the cool air and grass. To the south of Arles lies the Camargue. Here lives an indigenous race of cattle, called the toro, as well as indigenous white stocky horses. The cattle are fierce in temperament and serve mainly as a source of lean, range-fed meat and for dangerous games in the bull-ring. Getting close enough to milk one would not be advised. Hence, the traditional absence of dairy cows in the region, and of butter, from the traditional cuisine.

In the 1970s and 1980s, raw milk cheese-makers enjoyed a period of paradise. It was a time when many came back to the rural life from the cities, and cheese-making became a favored activity. It could support a small family, it was not excessively onerous as a job and, when done with respect for the animals and environment, it contributed to a healthy countryside, all virtues much espoused by the newly conscious who came of age in 1968—a period of political and social turbulence in France. The European Union had not yet begun to write laws affecting the cheese-makers or the outdoor markets. OPTING OUT It was during this period that Claudine Malbosc and her husband Yves opted to leave their office jobs in the city of Marseille and settle on the country farm of Claudine’s family in St. Martin de Crau to make goat cheese. Over the last twenty-five years they have raised two sons on goat’s milk, the entertaining sights of their mother milking the goats and making cheese and, when in the mood, Dad dancing with goats. They have also lived a rigorous life of early mornings, nary a day off and periodic floods that threaten all.

But they relish the freedom of their occupation, the joy of caring for their 60 goats—all which they know by name—and making a product for which they can be proud, that people come from miles around to purchase. Claudine tells me that as she listens to the trials and tribulations of her old school friends who chose occupations such as bank teller or teacher, she is ever more grateful that she opted out of that world and into a world of traditional values and rhythm. GETTING THEIR ACT TOGETHER Christian Fleury and others followed a similar path. And each in his turn has been affected by the shift of policy with the arrival of the EU. As pressure mounted, and the war on raw milk cheeses took a serious turn, these small artisans had to quite simply “get their act together.” From this cooperation was born the Fédération Régionale des Elevages de Côte d’Azur Alpes Provence (FRECAP) [The Regional Federation of Animal Husbandry of the Cote D’Azur, the Alpes and Provence] in 1981, in order to speak in a united voice for the many Provence-based cheese-makers affected by the evolving political movements in Europe.

This new entity has helped define farmer-made cheese—fromage fermier—as cheese made under the following circumstances: A small family farm (1-3 workers, 5-200 animals) All the milk processed on the premises and coming from the animals raised and nourished on the premises The cheeses produced and aged on the premises and sold by the farmer himself. These are the pillars of the federation. Of prime importance is the tenet that the cheese be made with milk from the family’s farm, and not milk purchased elsewhere. The alternatives, an artisan cheese-maker (who might purchase milk from a neighbor or other farm) and the industrial cheese-maker (large scale and bulk production that dominates the majority of the grocery stores), limit the control the cheese-maker has over the quality of his primary ingredient: the milk. To assure a high quality of healthy raw milk to make his cheese, the cheese-maker must milk his own animals and use his own milk. If the cheese-maker purchases milk from another farmer who makes his living from selling milk by the quantity, will the latter be careful enough to exclude the milk of an animal with an infection? Or the milk of an animal on antibiotics? Or from one given hormones?

Only the cheese-maker is fully aware of the potential destruction that bad milk can have on an entire day’s work and will carefully segregate out the sick animal and throw away the infected milk. The Federation has gone further and established clear outlines for a cheese-making operation, respecting the EU hygiene laws in effect and encouraging the production of a high quality and safe raw milk cheese: Human scale production (7-200 animals)—no more than 120,000 litres (35,000 gallons) of milk production transformed into cheese per year. The average farm in Provence has about 45 animals. Traditional nourishment for a ruminant—high-quality hay, grazing, a small mix of grains as a complement. Here in Provence, we have the hay of the Crau, harvested four times yearly and respected for its mixture and quality. Some herds are also grazed in the hills of Provence on the thyme, rosemary, oak and other scrub brush. Clean barns, and sufficient space to roam—either bring the herds into the hills daily, or provide them with a pasture or prairie they can access freely.

Barns must be built to allow two square meters per small animal (goat or sheep) and eight square meters per cow. Aeration of the barns is very important; many are built with an opening in the south wall to allow the animals to enter and exit freely. Respect for the natural reproduction cycle of the animal—goats naturally come into heat in the fall, and give birth from February to Easter. The cheese-maker thus allows them a period of rest during the last two months of gestation; no “de-seasoning” of an animal is allowed, a practice that employs hormonal therapy to force a period of heat in the spring to extend high milk production all year long. This rule permits the cheese-maker a well-earned vacation after 270 non-stop days of cheese production. The Federation also trains “replacement/substitute” cheese-makers who can be hired to care for the animals while the cheese-makers are away. Maintain a healthy herd—stress preventative measures over systematic medical intervention. Optimal sanitation, and testing for cleanliness of the milking machine. Cheese-makers use milking time to carefully look over each animal, check its health, remove burrs from the fur, inspect any insect bites or scratches, etc.

All cheese produced on the farm is made with milk from the farm’s own animals. Except for machine milking, the cheese must be made with traditional methods. The cheese-maker must pay careful attention to hygiene, use only raw milk, regularly self-test and invite periodic spot tests by the Federation to guarantee the quality of his milk and the cleanliness of the cheese-making facilities. Testing for pathogenic germs harmful to humans—Lysteria, E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella—is regularly carried out by both the cheese-maker and the representative of the Federation. To be sold, the cheese must be marked with the name and address of the cheese-maker. Much of the cheese can be sold at a local market or from a farm stand, thus eliminating a middleman and reduced profits. Local restaurants, from the simplest to the most elegant, are proud to put fromages fermiers on their menus and are a faithful and important clientele base. MARKET SALES ISSUES Amongst the more important battles that the Federation has helped the cheese-makers win has to do with whether or not the cheese is transported in a refrigerated truck and sold from a refrigerated stand.

Traditionally, raw milk cheese-makers packed their cheeses which had aged at 12C/55ºF into one or more insulated ice-boxes or coolers and, once at the market, set up a stand on a board of wood, at waist height, with plates of their various cheeses out for tasting, and a few in the open air ready to wrap up and sell. They had waxed paper on hand to wrap the cheeses in. Extra cheeses were kept in the ice-boxes/coolers till needed. The EU made an attempt to impose very expensive refrigerated trucks and refrigerated stands (which required electricity to run—something not every outdoor market place was equipped with) upon the cheese makers. As with many laws, this set of regulations would have disproportionately affected the smaller producers, whose main source of sales were the markets. For the industrialists, it was a comparatively negligible investment. FRECAP has participated in studies showing that temperature, particularly refrigerator temperatures of 4C/40ºF or less, is not a factor in the safety of a raw milk cheese. The law will not now go into effect, and the small producers can still sell their wares at market.

The established food safety rules developed to assure safe transportation of an industrially produced item across hundreds of miles in a truck or train do not necessarily apply to raw milk cheese. For instance, the cardinal rule in the food industry is to refrigerate everything at 4C/40ºF or lower. But if you are selling a fresh cheese that was made at 20C/68ºF that should also be served at this temperature, why bring it down to 4C/40ºF and then bring it back up to 20C/68ºF? Or, if a cheese is ideally aged at 12C/55ºF, and the good bacteria that contribute to its evolution are killed below 8C/48ºF, why then have it delivered and presented in highly refrigerated conditions? Recent studies done by the Federation have shown that cheeses brought from the farm to the market and back again, even multiple times, which experienced shifts in temperature from the stable 12C/55ºF aging room up to 25C/78ºF of the market stand, did not develop any noxious bacteria.

In fact, they often had lower levels of bacteria than the cheeses that had not left the aging room. The defenders of raw milk cheeses stress the fact that the good lactic acid bacteria present in raw milk are a protective factor for their cheeses. The lactic bacteria can combat pathogens and protect the milk from further contamination—protecting the consumer from a possible food-borne illness, normally in the form of indigestion. If Staphylococcus is introduced to a pasteurized bath of warm milk, it will proliferate quickly and dangerously, but if introduced to a bath of warm raw milk, it will multiply ever more slowly, and there is the chance that it will be eliminated by the good bacteria present. By pasteurizing, or even semi-pasteurizing milk, we turn it into the ideal medium for dangerous bacteria. So far, the cheese-makers have been able to continue making raw milk cheeses in France, and they are sharing their expertise to encourage and allow others to do the same. In 1990, FRECAP was instrumental in establishing the Carmejane Cheese Center located in le Chaffaut, in Haute Provence, to teach traditional raw milk cheese production.

They now train nearly 200 people yearly in cheese-making, arrange professional internships, offer continuing education courses for cheese-makers to improve or diversify their activities, and arrange conferences to share information, and encourage international exchanges with Italy, Tunisia, Israel, Norway, Slovenia, Brazil and other countries. However, while they are no longer as apprehensive about the EU, the spreading influence of the United States (and its very valuable luxury markets) does worry them and may require them to do battle all over again to defend their activity and professional integrity. The battle is no longer being fought by the French cheese-makers alone. Traditional cheese-making spans all of Europe—though no other country has so many different kinds of cheese—and there is wide-spread interest in promoting locally and traditionally made products. In 2003, members from the EU countries England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy established the European Alliance for Artisan and Traditional Raw Milk Products (EAT). Their declared goal is to perpetuate and defend the age-old practice and practitioners of the safe preservation of milk through traditional raw milk cheese-making.

They distribute information, encourage exchanges, respond to questions and help resolve technical or administrative problems and communicate positively (rather than defensively) about the benefits of raw milk cheese to journalists and consumers. Recently completed, the National Guide to the Good Practices of Farm Cheese Production or, Le Guide National des Bonnes Pratiques en Production Fromagère Fermiére, is available to those who sign up for training courses organized by raw milk cheese technicians on a regional and national level in France. For more details, I strongly suggest contacting the Centre Fromager de Carmejane. In an ideal world, instead of eliminating the glorious world of traditional cheeses, we would learn from them and preserve and disseminate their techniques to the cheese-making areas around the globe—even in the US. Provence is leading the way. For more information: Charles de Gaulle - Wikiquote Charles de Gaulle Jump to: navigation , search Men can have friends, statesmen cannot. Charles-André-Joseph-Marie de Gaulle ( 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970 ), in France commonly referred to as le général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman.

During World War II, he reached the rank of Brigade General and then became the leader of the Forces Françaises Libres ("FFL" — the "Free French Forces") . Between 1944 and 1946, following the liberation of France from German occupation, he was head of the French provisional government. Called to form a government in 1958, he inspired a new constitution and was the Fifth Republic 's first president, serving from 1958 to 1969. This article needs cleanup. Please review Wikiquote:Templates to determine how to edit this article to conform to a higher standard of article quality. Contents All my life I have had a certain idea of France. Toute ma vie, je me suis fait une certaine idée de la France. Opening sentence of his Mémoires de guerre. I have understood you! Je vous ai compris ! Said before the population of Algiers after they had called upon him to take power, June 4, 1958. Long live free Quebec! Vive le Québec libre! Said in 1967 on the balcony of Montréal City Hall.

It caused a diplomatic uproar with Canada and inflamed the Quebec sovereignty movement. France has no friends, only interests. Clementine Churchill: "General, you must not hate your friends more than you hate your enemies" De Gaulle (in English): "France has no friends, only interests." (De Gaulle did not speak specifically of France, but of all nation-states, including Britain. This remark was in line with his saying "Men can have friends, statesmen cannot",*Les hommes peuvent avoir des amis, pas les hommes d'Etat., in Interview, December 9, 1967). Yes, it is Europe , from the Atlantic to the Urals, it is Europe, it is the whole of Europe, that will decide the fate of the world. Oui, c'est l'Europe, depuis l'Atlantique jusqu'à l'Oural, c'est toute l'Europe, qui décidera du destin du monde. 23 November 1959, Strasbourg. The phrase shown in bold is the most often quoted excerpt. De Gaulle was expressing his vision of Europe's future. Now she is like everyone else. Maintenant, elle est comme les autres.

Spoken at the funeral of his daughter Anne, who had Down Syndrome, February 1948 France cannot be France without greatness. Early life[ edit ] When we were children, we often played war. We had a fine collection of lead soldiers. My brothers would take different countries: Xavier had Italy; Pierre, Germany. Or they would swap around. Well, I, gentlemen, always had France. Reminscing during an ocean voyage to Tahiti, quoted in The Atlantic, November 1960 World War II[ edit ] France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war. La France a perdu une bataille, mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre. Poster À tous les Français (To All Frenchmen), August 1940. À tous les Français was designed and displayed in London to accompany the Appel du 18 juin (Appeal of 18 June) following defeat at the Battle of France. The pair are considered to be the founding texts of the Résistance. At the root of our civilization, there is the freedom of each person of thought, of belief, of opinion, of work, of leisure.

A la base de notre civilisation, il y a la liberté de chacun dans sa pensée, ses croyances, ses opinions, son travail, ses loisirs. Speech, November 25 1941. Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in. Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. Speech, July 14 1943. "Do you know that you have caused us more trouble than all the rest of our European allies?" "I do not doubt it. France is a great power." Conversation with Anthony Eden , recounted in de Gaulle's Mémoires de guerre. Quoted in The Atlantic, November 1960. It is unnecessary, for the Republic has never ceased to exist. I was the Republic.

Reply in August 1944 to a statement of regret that the windows of the Hotel de Ville in Paris were not opened for the crowd outside cheering the reestablishment of the Republic. Quoted in The Atlantic, November 1960. Fifth Republic and other post-WW2[ edit ] I am retiring. I have a mission, and it is coming to an end … France may still one day need an image that is pure. She must be left this image. If Joan of Arc had married, she would no longer have been Joan of Arc. Said to Pierre Bertaux in 1944, as recounted in The Atlantic, November 1960 Supported General Douglas MacArthur during his row with President Harry Truman by saying MacArthur was: "A foreign military leader whose daring was feared by those who profited by it." De Gaulle said that MacArthur's critics should "pay deserved tribute to the legendary service of a great soldier". from William Manchester's "American Caesar". I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone. Je suis un homme qui n'appartient à personne et qui appartient à tout le monde.

Press conference, May 19 1958 Why do you think that at 67 I would start a career as a dictator ? Pourquoi voulez-vous qu'à 67 ans je commence une carrière de dictateur ? Press conference, May 19 1958 (De Gaulle was changing the constitution to make government more efficient, after decades of impotent parliamentary regime, and he mocked journalists who claimed he was establishing a dictatorship). Politics, when it is an art and a service, not an exploitation, is about acting for an ideal through realities. La politique, quand elle est un art et un service, non point une exploitation, c'est une action pour un idéal à travers des réalités. Press conference, June 30 1955 No policy is worth anything outside of reality. Il n'y a pas de politique qui vaille en dehors des réalités. Televised speech, June 14 1960 How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese? Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?

Les Mots du Général, Ernest Mignon, 1962 I am not ill. But do not worry, one day, I will certainly die. Je ne vais pas mal. Mais rassurez-vous, un jour, je ne manquerai pas de mourir. Press conference, February 1965, denying rumours that he secretly had a terminal disease Of course one can jump up and down yelling Europe ! Europe ! Europe ! But it amounts to nothing and it means nothing. Bien entendu, on peut sauter sur sa chaise comme un cabri en disant l’Europe ! l’Europe ! l’Europe ! mais cela n’aboutit à rien et cela ne signifie rien. Interview on a presidential campaign, December 1965 INA archive of the video (De Gaulle meant that he wanted to build a European Union on realities, i.e. the existing nation-states with their respective interests – not on slogans and abstractions) Long live Montreal, Long live Quebec! Long live Free Quebec! Vive Montreal; Vive le Québec! Vive le Québec libre! From a balcony at Montreal City Hall, with particular emphasis on the word 'libre'.

The phrase, a slogan used by Quebecers who favoured Quebec sovereignty, and de Gaulle's use of it, was seen by them as lending his tacit support to the movement. The speech sparked a diplomatic incident with Canada's government, and was condemned by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, saying that "Canadians do not need to be liberated." Men can have friends, statesmen cannot. Les hommes peuvent avoir des amis, pas les hommes d'Etat. Interview, December 9 1967. Background Information[ edit ] General de Gaulle was the de facto leader of the Free French Forces which had escaped to London in World War II. Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain , a hero of world War I , had signed an armistice (agreement to end fighting) with the invading forces of Nazi Germany, and led the Nazi-collaborating government of Vichy France in the south. The Nazis had occupied the north of France. De Gaulle was opposed to surrender and had left France on June 15 , 1940 after Pétain made clear he wanted to do so.

Three days later, de Gaulle obtained special permission from Winston Churchill to broadcast a speech via BBC Radio over France, despite the British Cabinet's efforts to block the broadcast. In the speech, de Gaulle reminded the French people that the British Empire and the United States of America would support them in an effort to retake their land from the Nazis . On June 18 , 1940, at 19:00, de Gaulle's voice was broadcast nationwide. Speech of June 18[ edit ] "The leaders who, for many years, were at the head of French armies, have formed a government. This government, alleging our armies to be undone, agreed with the enemy to stop fighting. Of course, we were subdued by the mechanical, ground and air forces of the enemy. Infinitely more than their number, it was the tanks, the airplanes, the tactics of the Germans which made us retreat. It was the tanks, the airplanes, the tactics of the Germans that surprised our leaders to the point to bring them there where they are today. "But has the last word been said? Must hope disappear? Is defeat final? No!

"Believe me, I speak to you with full knowledge of the facts and tell you that nothing is lost for France. The same means that overcame us can bring us to a day of victory. For France is not alone! She is not alone! She is not alone! She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and continues the fight. She can, like England, use without limit the immense industry of United States. "This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not finished by the battle of France. This war is a world-wide war. All the faults, all the delays, all the suffering, do not prevent there to be, in the world, all the necessary means to one day crush our enemies. Vanquished today by mechanical force, we will be able to overcome in the future by a superior mechanical force. "The destiny of the world is here.

I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who would come there, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the special workers of armament industries who are located in British territory or who would come there, to put themselves in contact with me. "Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished. Tomorrow, as today, I will speak on Radio London." Jews remain what they have been at all times: an elite people, self-confident and domineering. Attributed to a news conference (27 November 1967) the earliest occurrence of this statement yet located is in The Cross and the Flag, Vol. 27, (1968) by the Christian Nationalist Crusade Charles de Gaulle Quotes - BrainyQuote Charles de Gaulle Quotes Find on Amazon: Charles de Gaulle Cite this Page: Citation Pluralism and Toleration | Libertarianism.org We need only a few basic rules to live together in society, says Boaz, and shouldn’t use the law to make everyone conform to one view of the best way to live.

Transcript David Boaz: Somebody was just talking about Bernie Sanders’ claim that if we didn’t have 23 kinds of deodorant, maybe children wouldn’t be hungry. And somebody said, “Imagine a world in which you go into the store and there’s a box that says ‘soup’ and a box that says ‘cheese’ and there’s only the one kind.” And it reminded me of something Charles de Gaulle said about France, “How can you rule a country that has 107 different cheeses?” well, he had a point. The world is full of different interests and different people and different ideas, even about cheese. One of the important facts about the modern world (and really an important fact about the world at any time, but we’re now much more conscious of it), is moral pluralism. We don’t all have the same religious or moral views. We don’t all believe that the virtuous life is lived in exactly the same way. And so if individuals have different concepts of the nature of the world, of the nature of man, of the nature of government, of the nature of God, and we can’t resolve those differences, necessarily, how do we deal with that world?

One response to the fact of moral pluralism is sometimes called perfectionism, which is that we will unite everyone and perfect human nature. Many religions have had that idea. If people truly understood God and what he wants, then everyone would have the same moral views and the same desire to do what God wants, to live the right kind of life. Religion is not the only place that you get that. Communism, also Marxism, offered that idea. If people truly understood the nature of exploitation, the nature of man, then everyone would be rid of false consciousness and everyone would live as New Soviet man or New Marxist man anyway. Well, that didn’t work out so well in practice. It turns out that these differences are real, not to mention the fact that when you try to override them with an essentially totalitarian government, you destroy economic growth, you destroy incentives, and people end up living at a very low standard of living. An alternative to perfectionism is to recognize that people are different, that we live in a plural world. And that’s why pluralism is sort of a corollary of individualism. We recognize that individuals are different. They may have different views of faith, reality, the origin of the world.

And we accept that, and we let people live. We tolerate and accept differences among people. One of the implications of that is minimal government rules. In order to live together, we’re going to have to have a few rules. And I sometimes say, and I wasn’t the first one to say it, you learn these rules in kindergarten: don’t hit other people, don’t take their stuff, and keep your promises. And if we don’t enforce those rules, then we live in a world of all against all. If we do enforce those simple rules, then we can accept the fact that not everybody agrees with the way I worship God, the way I think of marriage, the way I think of family life, even the way I think of political life – as long as we have minimal restrictions on people. Minimal government allows people to flourish in the way that seems best to them. And one of the advantages of that, of course, is we may find out that we’re wrong. We may look at the family next door or the community across the country and say their systems seem to be working better. So I think maybe I’ve been wrong in my understanding of the best way to live.

Certainly, there have been modes of living that people have tried and have tended to be found wanting and not engaged in again. So one of the arguments for a plural society and a minimalist government is precisely that we might learn better ways of living. One of the ways the modern world has accommodated itself to pluralism is by moving from theocracy (or a single Church that everyone belongs to, really whether they like it or not), to religious toleration, religious freedom, and eventually to the separation of Church and State. Those are not necessarily the same thing. Religious toleration could mean there’s an established Church, but we won’t put you in jail if you go to another church. Religious freedom might mean no established Church, but it’s still got connections with government, whatever. Separation of Church and State is where we ended up, at least in the United States. Everybody in America is free to worship the way he wants to, go to whatever church they want to, start a church, leave a church. Government won’t have anything to do with that, the separation of Church and State. And we might think about why we think that’s a good idea.

And I can think of three reasons: First, it’s simply wrong to interfere in the individual conscience. What can be more a part of your humanity than what’s in your head, what’s in your heart, what you believe about God, what you believe about your own immortal soul? It’s wrong to coercively interfere. It is wrong to point a gun at people and say, “Swear you worship my God. Do not say that you have a different view of the world.” It’s wrong to interfere in individual conscience. Second, we get social harmony out of it. Once we acknowledge, once people figure out that not everybody agrees… Maybe there was a time when everybody thought that everybody else agreed with what the priest was saying or what the commissar was saying. But once people figure out that not only do I have my doubts about what the priest is saying, but it turns out other people do too, then you tend to get conflicts. People start agitating. They want the right to do things differently. And some of them want the right to impose their religion on everybody instead of that other religion. And you can understand why people think this.

If you truly believe in the faith that you believe in and you believe that people will lose their immortal souls if they believe wrongly, then you would be a cruel person not to want them to come to the proper understanding before they have to face their Maker. But we found out that that leads to wars. In Europe, they were known as the wars of religion for a while. So we said more social harmony can be achieved if we allow everybody to worship in their own way. And if you have a better idea, go out and preach to them. And the third reason, I think, is that competition generates better results. It may even generate truth. There’s no real truth about what’s the best car. Competition will help to produce better automobiles, better computers, better shoes, better food. But maybe even, competition of ideas helps to produce better ideas. There are a lot of stupid things people have believed in the world that no one believes anymore because we tested those ideas and we found then wanting. So competition produces better results. Now when we think those are the reasons we have separation of Church and State, then we might start thinking, “Well, where are the other areas that that also might apply to?” I would suggest family.

How about separation of family and State? We don’t need the government telling us what kind of families we should form. We don’t need an establishment of certain kinds of families. And any positive government laws (tax program, Social Security programs, whatever) are going to have an impact on the way family structure is accounted for the more minimal the government, the less such intervention there will be. That means people get to follow their own conscience. That means we get more social harmony because you don’t create groups of people who are angry that their family choice is either banned or excluded from government programs or whatever. And maybe it gets better results. Maybe you find out that certain kinds of family structures don’t work very well. People come to see that. Education seems a perfect example. The reason we have separation of religion and State is because religion is so tied up with our deepest emotions, our deepest values. Well, so is education. The kind of school your child attends has a lot to do with what that child learns about the nature of the world. One of the things we do in America is we exclude religion from the public schools. We no longer have school prayer. We don’t allow it.

A lot of schools are so scared, they won’t even teach the Bible as history or literature because it appears to be the establishment of religion. But remember, when you tell people you must send your children to public school or pay a whole lot more money to go to some other school and religion will not be allowed in that school, you are telling the children, and to some extent, the family, religion is not that important. Of all the things your children need to learn as they grow to maturity, religion is not one of them. Now the secular state would respond, “No, no, it may be important, but it’s for the parents and their minister to teach.” Still, kids spend half their waking hours in school. If ideas are not presented in a religious context, then they get the message that religion doesn’t have anything to do with history, values, science, whatever. I may believe that religion doesn’t have anything to do with those things, but I don’t think the government should have that as an official policy. So why not separate education and State? Then we wouldn’t be interfering in people’s individual conscience. We wouldn’t create social disharmony.

At the Cato Institute, we have a conflict map on our website that shows conflicts in the public schools over what’s to be taught, who’s to teach, what kinds of teaching will be done. When you have private schools, you don’t have to worry about any of that. If you want a Catholic school, go to a Catholic school. If you want a school that emphasizes science and math, find a school like that. If you want a school that emphasizes art or music, that’s fine. When it’s in the public school, then you have to fight over whether you’re going to have prayer, whether you’re going to have gay teachers, all that sort of thing. Put all the schools in the private sector; you don’t have those conflicts. And then think about art. If religion touches our deepest emotions, doesn’t art also if it’s successful? And so if the government is involved in subsidizing some kinds of art and excluding from subsidy other kinds of art, then it’s kind of creating an establishment of art, set up an establishment of religion. And what if [inaudible] again? We’re interfering in the individual conscience by pushing certain kinds of art, which touches certain kinds of emotions, on people.

Sometimes we create some social conflict because some people don’t like the art that the government subsidizes, whether it is a piece of art that demeans Christianity, that demeans homosexuality, that seems to exalt the enemies of America – all kinds of art that might offend somebody. If the government is picking which one is to subsidize or which ones to ban, then you’re going to get some social conflict. And even in art and music, competition might produce better results. In all of these areas, I think we should broaden the notion of the separation of Church and State to the separation of conscience and State. Anything that touches on the individual conscience, the farther we can keep it from the State, the better. Remember, the State is power. The State is coercion. It’s force. So any time you say the State or the government should be involved in something, you’re saying force should be involved in this. We should force people to pay for these schools and force their children to go to these schools. We should force people to pay for this art. We should, in some cases, force people not to look at this kind of art. That seems a bad idea in a pluralist and tolerant society.

So the corollary of individualism for libertarians is a society that recognizes the fact of pluralism and tolerates all sorts of peaceful activities. One of the great founders of the modern libertarian movement, Leonard Reed, wrote a book called Anything That’s Peaceful. That was his definition of a free society. You can do anything that’s peaceful. It may be offensive, it may be stupid, it may be self-destructive, but we will not use force. We will not point a gun to prevent you from doing anything that’s peaceful. That’s the nature of a plural and tolerant society. Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Cheese - Listverse Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Cheese Cheeshygirl September 18, 2009 I’ve been contemplating writing a list for a while now and finally got my inspiration from watching one of my favorite cooking shows, Good Eats. (Hush, Jamie. I know you hate that show.) My love of cheese has grown throughout the years, from asking my parents for some “cheesh” please to carefully selecting a new cheese to try from the gourmet section of my local grocery store. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.

10 Etymology The root of the English word cheese comes from the Latin caseus, which also gives us the word casein, the milk protein that is the basis of cheese. In Old English, caseus was c?ese or c?se, which became chese in Middle English, finally becoming cheese in Modern English. Caseus is also the root word for cheese in other languages, including queso in Spanish, kaas in Dutch, käse in German, and queijo in Portuguese. Caseus Formatus, or molded (formed) cheese, brought us formaticum, the term the Romans employed for the hard cheese used as supplies for the legionaries. From this root comes the French fromage and the Italian formaggio. 9 Early History Cheese consumption predates recorded history, with scholars believing it began as early as 8000 BC, when sheep were first domesticated, to as late as 3000 BC. It is believed to have been discovered in the Middle East or by nomadic Turkic tribes in Central Asia, where foodstuffs were commonly stored in animal hides or organs for transport.

Milk stored in animal stomachs would have separated into curds and whey by movement and the rennet and bacteria naturally present. 8 Evidence Egypt brings us the earliest archeological evidence of cheesemaking, found in tomb murals that date back to 2000 BC. These cheeses were likely to have been very sour and salty (lots of salt was needed to preserve the cheese in the hot, arid climate) and similar to a cottage cheese or feta in texture. Cheeses made in Europe didn’t require as much salt because of cooler conditions, thus paving the way for beneficial microbes and molds to form and give aged cheeses their interesting and robust flavors. 7 Fine Art Ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to turn cheesemaking into a fine art. Larger Roman houses even had a special kitchen, called a careale, just for making cheese. After developing new techniques for smoking and adding other flavors into cheeses, the Romans spread this knowledge slowly through their empire. Local resources allowed for different varieties to develop along the way. 6 Variety After the fall of the Roman Empire, innovative monks were responsible for inventing some of the classic varieties of cheese we know today.

According to the British Cheese Board, Britain has approximately 700 distinct local cheeses. It is thought that France and Italy have perhaps 400 each. The varying flavors, colors, and textures of cheese come from many factors, including the type of milk used, the type of bacteria or acids used to separate the milk, the length of aging, and the addition of other flavorings or mold. 5 “Other” Cheese Although most cheese is produced from cow, sheep, or goat’s milk, it can and has been made from a plethora of milk-producing animals. A farm in Bjurholm, Sweden actually makes moose cheese. The lactation period of moose is short, lasting from about June to August, and the farm, owned by Christer and Ulla Johansson, keeps three moose that produce only 300 kilograms of cheese per year. The moose cheese sells for roughly US$1000 per kilogram. Places in Russia also produce moose milk but have not had success with moose cheesemaking due to its high protein content. 4 Top Cheese The United States is the top producer of cheese in the world, with Wisconsin and California leading the states in production.

Although the US produces the most cheese, Greece and France lead the pack in cheese consumption per capita, averaging 27.3 and 24.0 kilograms per person in 2003 respectively. In the same year, the average US citizen consumed around 14.1 kg, although cheese consumption in the US has tripled since 1970 and is continuing to increase. Pictured above is cheez whiz. Keep it classy. 3 Stinky Cheese and Feet Limburger cheese is notorious for its strong and generally unpleasant odor. The bacteria known as brevibacterium linens causes this. It is also found on human skin and is partially responsible for body odor. The Chalet Cheese Cooperative, located in Monroe, Wisconsin, is the only maker of limburger cheese in North America today. 2 Fondue When eating cheese fondue, make sure to save room for “the nun” at the bottom of the pot, or la religieuse. Religieuse means nun in French and usually refers to a type of pastry.

There is much speculation as to why the cracker-like, toasted cheese layer found in the bottom of a caquelon is called la religieuse, ranging from the legend that monks saved the last remaining bits of fondue for the nuns to the idea that eating it is a religious experience. In German, it is called the Großmutter or grossmutter, which translates to grandmother. The meaning behind this use is also unclear. 1 Great Cheese Quotes “A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be over sophisticated.

Yet it remains, cheese, milk’s leap toward immortality.” Clifton Fadiman (American writer and editor; New Yorker book reviewer, 1904-1999) “A dinner which ends without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.” Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (French lawyer and politician, epicure and gastronome, 1755-1826) “Many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese — toasted, mostly.” Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, 1850-1894) “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” Charles De Gaulle (French general and president, 1890-1970) More Great Lists Types of Cheese and Classification Simplified! Categorized by Texture, Milk Source, Country of Origin Ask any group of cheese experts and you probably won’t find a consensus about types of cheese or classification. Things can get very technical in the world of cheesemaking, so I’ll stick to a simple method of dividing cheeses into categories, and leave the technical details and arguments to others.

Types of Cheese by Texture Every cheese has a texture that defines it. This texture refers to the degree of hardness, or to put it another way, how much moisture remains in the cheese when it is ready to eat. The method of manufacturing the cheese and the length of time it is aged will determine its texture and its degree of firmness. Cheeses which share some basic characteristics can be grouped together according to the following types of cheese: 1. Fresh 2. Soft-ripened or “bloomy rind” cheese 3. Washed-rind 8. Double and triple crème 9. Pasta Filata (meaning spun paste) Cheeses in each of the types of cheeses listed above will also share some taste characteristics and will be best suited for eating, cooking or grating. Click here for more information on Cheese Textures and Examples Types of Cheese by Milk Source Cheese may have first begun with camel’s milk, goat’s milk or sheep’s milk, but today the majority of cheese comes, of course, from cow’s milk. Water buffalo, yak and even horse are also sources of milk for interesting cheeses.

There are significant differences between cow's milk, goat's milk and sheep's milk...and as a result, the flavor, the tastes of these three types of cheese differ widely. Goat's milk has less fat and tastes lighter. Goat's milk cheese tends to have a fresh, tangy taste. Sheep's milk contains the most butterfat and so sheep's milk cheese will taste much richer, even when it is fully aged and drier in texture. Both goat's milk and sheep's milk are richer than cow's milk, nutritionally speaking. A surprising fact I turned up in my research revealed that the milk from Jersey cows contains more protein, more vitamins, more minerals and more butterfat (5-6%) than the milk from the industry standard breed Holstein cow (3-3.5% butterfat). (So buy Jersey cow milk when you can find it!) When it comes to milk type, just as important as the animal source is the "terroir" where the animal is raised. Terroir is a French word which encompasses everything from the region of the country, the local microclimate, the altitude, the rainfall, the types of grass and natural pasturage which the animal eats.

It also refers to the season in which the milk was produced. Clearly, if a goat for example eats hay in winter...but in summer it grazes in an alpine pasture in France, eating everything from grass, moss, berries and branches to bushes, clover, herbs and flowers, then cheese produced from the goat's summer milk will taste far, far different from the cheese produced by its winter milk. So cheese has seasons, just like the animals do (for reproduction) and the changing climate, season by season. There is a "best" time to make each cheese and a "best" time to eat that cheese (depending on the desired length of the aging process). It's important to keep this in mind when buying cheese. Here are some examples. Goat cheese is usually eaten when it is young and quite fresh...2 weeks to 2 months old. So the ideal time to purchase goat cheese will be in late summer to early fall, because the milk will have been produced when the goat had the richest, most varied diet. An alpine cheese such as Morbier, which is produced from cow's milk, will be best consumed 3 or 4 months after it was produced.

Therefore look for it in the cheese shop in November and December. Brie and Camembert will be at their peak in early fall, 1-2 months after they were made. The very hard cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano or a Pecorino Romano, are less seasonal and the quality is pretty uniform throughout the year. A good rule of thumb to remember is that young, soft cheeses will taste best when purchased in late summer and early fall. The harder cheeses will generally taste best when purchased in winter, because they have been aged longer and come from milk produced the previous spring. Your local cheesemonger should be able to tell you the best seasons for the cheeses you would like to try. One last point to make about milk. In the U.S., by law, ALL cheese which is aged less than 60 days, MUST be made from pasteurized milk. That applies to all cheese imported to the USA as well. Most cheese lovers and cheese experts will agree that raw, unpasteurized milk makes the best, most flavorful cheese.

Good examples are some of the Kings of Cheesedom - the royal Camembert de Normandie, Montgomery's Cheddar (English, 300 year history) or the Brie de Meaux. Types of Cheese by Country of Origin The most important cheesemaking countries are France, Britain, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States. Of course cheese is made in many other countries as well. But until cheese and the craft of making cheese spread with trade and exploration beyond the shores of Middle Eastern and European cultures, cheese was almost unheard of in the Far East, in sub-Saharan Africa or in the Americas (pre Columbus days). Today cheese is consumed everywhere, but the real stars of the cheese world, the Kings and Queens of gourmet specialty cheeses, still come from the U.S., France, Britain, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands. As I discussed above in the section on milk, the terroir will have enormous impact upon the types of cheeses produced in each country. One example would be Alpine Cheeses, a distinctive type of cheese.

Obviously alpine cheeses produced in mountainous eastern France or Switzerland, will differ greatly from a cheese produced in Normandy, located in western France bordering the Atlantic Ocean, for example. In fact some experts would say that a cheese produced in one small town will differ greatly from a cheese of the same type and name, produced in the next town! France is known to have more than 700 distinct cheeses, and there are still many more that do not have a specific name - they are simply local cheeses produced and eaten on the spot, so to speak. President de Gaulle (France, 1890 -1970) is quoted to have said...."How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?" A good question, but he understated the number of varieties! In the 1960s Clifton Fadiman, an American writer, editor and New Yorker book reviewer wrote "A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be over-sophisticated.

Yet it remains - cheese, milk's leap toward immortality." I have created separate sections on this website, dedicated to the Best International Cheeses from Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as the Best American Artisanal Cheeses. There you will find a lot more information on specific cheeses, along with recommendations of my personal favorites as well as names of those cheeses which top most of the experts' 'Best of the Best' lists. Choices like these are necessarily subjective, but the research involved to make such recommendations is always fun, involving much nibbling and sipping of the appropriately paired wine! HOME › Types of Cheese

Question: Who said, "How can you rule a country which produces 246 different kinds of cheese?
Answer: Charles de Gaulle